The Hindu : Kerala News : Ernakulam: a tough electoral battle on the cards

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 07, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Ernakulam: a tough electoral battle on the cards

By K.P.M. Basheer

KOCHI, APRIL 6. Ernakulam has for long been a `reserved' seat. Reserved, by both the UDF and LDF, for the Latin Catholics. The rationale: the Latin Catholics are a major minority community in the constituency and they constitute nearly five per cent of Kerala's population, and hence one of the 20 Lok Sabha seats is their due share.

It is a win-win for the community: whoever wins— UDF or LDF— the winner is a Latin Catholic. But, the Latin Catholics in Ernakulam always had a pro-Congress leaning and the party leaders consult the bishops before picking up the candidate. Sometimes it is the other way round: the church handpicks the candidate and the party gives its nod.

The latter scenario prevailed this time around. The church leaders decided on Edward A. Edezhath, a college lecturer who has been very active in church affairs, but who had not been a primary member of the Congress party. In spite of the district party functionaries' opposition, the Congress leaders went along with the wishes of the bishops. The announcement of his candidate was received with dismay.

The Church leaders had received the green signal for Mr. Edezhath's candidature from all the Congress leaders who mattered, before going to the media with the news. A senior clergyman who was actively involved in the process told The Hindu that they had earlier on met the senior Congress leader, K. Karunakaran. Later, the functionaries of the Kerala Region Latin Catholic Council had met A.K. Antony, Oommen Chandy and P.P. Thankachan. All- India Congress Committee leaders such as Ahmed Patel and Ambika Soni too were impressed upon the need to field Mr. Edezhath.

However, Mr. Edezhath is generally viewed as a Karunakaran nominee. The `I' group leader is believed to have made a quid pro quo with the church leaders in view of the substantial number of Latin Catholic voters in Vadakkekara and Kodungalloor in the Mukundapuram constituency where his daughter Padmaja Venugopal is the Congress candidate.

Mr. Edezhath's main rival is the LDF's Sebastian Paul who has the advantage of being a sitting MP--he got elected to Parliament just six months ago. (The LDF campaigners point out gleefully that Mr. Paul's name is still shining bright `on the walls and in the minds' of voters). Mr. Paul is a `habitual contestant': this is his sixth electoral contest in seven years.

The two have some similarities, in background, education and early career: both hail from the Kochi area, both belong to the Latin Catholic community, both have a Masters degree in English, both have a law school training, both have a PhD and both started their career as teachers at St. Albert's College, Ernakulam. And, both have a `decent guy' image. But, unlike Mr. Edezhath, Mr. Paul's name, as well as his face, is quite familiar to the voters in Ernakulam. His popular media analysis programme on Kairali Channel keeps him on the TV screen for one hour (in two telecasts) every week. He is more a journalist than a politician; he is more at home with intellectual debates than at political manoeuvrings. It was this persona that endeared him to the voters in the September byelection and helped him win the seat, though political pundits attributed his victory to the cross-voting by Karunakaran loyalists.

Ernakulam is a sophisticated, prosperous and cosmopolitan Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala. It has a bewildering ethnic mix— ranging from Jews, Jains, Memons, Shias to Marwaris--and is home to people from most of the Indian States. Because of this, contrary to popular myth, the candidate's personality, educational and professional backgrounds matter as much as his/her political affiliation. The constituency is considered a safe bet for the UDF. But in the past 15 parliamentary elections (including two byelections), the LDF won four times. All the seven Assembly segments are currently held by UDF MLAs, but, in the September Lok Sabha byelection the LDF secured the majority of votes in five out of the seven. While in the byelection Mr. Paul secured a 22,000-vote majority over his UDF rival M.O. John, in the 1999 general election, the UDF candidate the late George Eden had mopped up an impressive 1.11 lakh majority over his LDF rival.

The BJP has this time fielded O.G. Thankappan, a long-time RSS activist and member of the BJP's national council. The 68-year-old Thankappan, a bachelor, hails from Aluva and was the first Ernakulam district president of the BJP. The BJP however carries the baggage of the September byelection: the party had sponsored a former senior Communist leader— V.Vishwanatha Menon— which was resented by hardcore BJP activists. Again, the charge of `vote diversion' in that election has caused damage to the party. Poll pundits tend to view the BJP's contest a `ritualistic contest.'

The Ernakulam contest, as in the past, is a straight UDF-LDF fight. The church is strongly on the UDF candidate's side, but he has the handicap of starting late.

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